Pakistan come on top of Afghanistan in thrilling last over chase in controversy marred match

Afghanistan had won the toss and opted to bat first. On the back of a phenomenal opening partnership of 227 by the opening batsmen, Afghanistan posted a competitive score of 300 at the end of 50 overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the top scorer with 151 runs. 

The openers from Pakistan had a 50 run stand to begin preceddings. Fakhar Zaman however ws subsequently out bowled to Fazalhaq Farroqi. However, a 118 run partnership wicket for the second wicket stabilised the innings. 

The unpredictability factor soon figured into the game with the side losing the next 5 wickets for just 40 runs after Babar Azam departed. However the unpredictability factor figured in yet again with Pakistan bouncing back from 211-6 to 288-8 at the end of 48.5 overs on the back of a well crafted 48 by Shadab Khan who eventually won the man of the match award. The last ball of the 49th over was dispatched or a six and there was controversy around whether or not it was a no ball.

More drama was to follow as Shadab’s wicket fell immediately owing to ,Mankading by the bowler. This too however was not the end of the drama. With Pakistan requiring 6 from 3 balls with 1 wicket in hand, Haris managed to get 3. Naseem scored a 4 in the next ball getting Pakistan home.

Meanwhile, Babar Azam broke yet another batting record by becoming the only player to score more than 5000 runs within the first 100 One Day International (ODI) innings. Hashim Amla was 54 runs short of this milestone having scored 4946 runs in his first 100 innings at an average of 53.18.